Lagarde brought the whip

By Daniel Thwaites

If we didn't want to hear what Christine Lagarde and her IMF imperialist cronies have to say, Jamaica could just have rejected their money from back in 2010 and sent them on their way.

We've heard "I can't recall" so many times about that 2010 period that I'm wondering if it was something in the water supply. It's affecting me, too. I can't recall the IMF sailing into Kingston Harbour and ordering us to take their loans at the end of loaded muskets. I do recall, though, the Government boasting that it could find cheap financing from the multilaterals, and inviting them to come here. In fact, the then GOJ took a massive commitment from the IMF, US$2.4 billion, and promised in return to institute public-sector reform, tax reform, and operationalise a Central Treasury Management System, none of which happened.

Now Audley Shaw has complained that IMF chief Christine Lagarde has interfered in domestic politics by making comments that were "unfortunate and inappropriate". Lagarde cautioned Jamaicans to not "let the electoral process get in the way of" the economic process it is undertaking, and said that Portia is "the best possible advocate" for the most vulnerable Jamaicans. If that wasn't enough, she called Peter Phillips's economic management "superb work".

ENDORSEMENT

I'm saying Audley has a point, because it sounds very much like an endorsement when Lagarde praises the PM and the finance minister so unreservedly. Regarding the part about the "electoral process getting in the way", that's open to interpretation. I don't think Lagarde was asking Jamaica to re-elect the PNP so much as reflecting that electoral pressures can derail the programme.

Ms Lagarde would be quite aware that since we're past the halfway mark from the last election, pressure is on the Government to run wid it, and on the Opposition to create mayhem. This is our history: politics over economics.

In fact, it was worse than Audley even said. Truth is that Lagarde's decision to come to Jamaica was by itself a vote of confidence. She's unlikely to visit a place if she thinks its failing. In the world of diplomacy, the head of the IMF doesn't just "drop in". She meant to send a signal.

Plus, there's no possibility of misinterpretation in these words:

"I wanted to pay tribute to Minister Phillips and to his colleagues, under the leadership of the Most Honourable Prime Minister, for what has been a clear change of course, not only in the relationship between Jamaica and the IMF, but a change of course in deciding to tackle the issues head-on and to make the hard choices ... ," said Lagarde.

"Clear change of course?" Obviously the contrast is with Audley.

Then: "The story of Jamaica with the IMF has been bumpy, to say the least. Programmes started, programmes suspended, programmes renewed, programmes resuspended, and what I am saying here to the authorities, to the private sector, civil-society representatives, it is important that you stay the course, and it is important that you don't waste the outstanding results ... ."

AUDLEY ALL THE WAY

All right! When she says "programmes suspended ... and resuspended", is Audley she a talk. And when she say "the track record of Jamaica, let's face it, was not really the best that you could think of", that's Audley again.

Coinciding with the visit, The Gleaner ran a story titled 'Who is Christine Lagarde?' It contained the basic facts: French national synchronised swimmer, chairman of international law firm Baker & McKenzie, meteoric political rise, French minister of finance, head of the IMF and one of the most powerful women in the world.

However, it left out some interesting stuff. For example, once Lagarde had set off a firestorm by mentioning "all these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax". Critics deduced that she had called the Greeks a bunch of rampant tax dodgers, which, however true, they didn't want her to say.

"Nobody has the right to humiliate the Greek people during the crisis, and I say this today specifically addressing Ms Lagarde ... who with her stance insulted the Greek people," said Evangelos Venizelos, the socialist leader.

Maybe that piece of Lagarde's biography might have assisted Mike Henry, another senior member of the former administration, who published a regrettable letter in this newspaper complaining that the IMF is "experimenting on black people". It seems that Lagarde has much the same attitude to all the black people over there in Greece like she does to Jamaica.

PRECEDENT

Then there's the Daily Mail report that Lagarde's office is festooned with cartoons and caricatures of her, and that her personal favourite is one of her as a dominatrix dressed in fishnet stockings whipping a banker.

So there's precedent for what happened here. Jamaica is having its own crisis, and she came visiting with whip in hand.

We all know Audley knows how to fight. But before he beats me up (like Delano Franklyn), I want to point out that I'm sorta agreeing with him. Lagarde went far beyond what was strictly necessary. She delivered an endorsement.

By the way, Lagarde is no socialist. Her predecessor, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), with whom Audley inked the 2010 deal, was. Remember now that DSK had to resign when he tried to socialise the assets of Naffisatou Diallo, the chambermaid, in his Manhattan hotel room and meddle in her private internal affairs. Allegedly.

Anyway, looking back further, if that's what we want to do, there's lots of blame to go around for the mess we're in. Consider that it's been 40 years since the first oil shocks rocked our economy, but in 2014 we still derive almost all our energy from oil. Consider, too, that economic growth has been insignificant throughout that same 40 years, and incomes have been essentially stagnant.

Why not see Lagarde's comment about the "electoral process getting in the way" of economic advancement as an invitation to do something different this time around?

Daniel Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.